Daimler Truck has a stable start to the year despite the economic downturn

Daimler Truck has a stable start to the year despite the economic downturn

The commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck had a stable start to the year despite an economic downturn. Although there was a significant decline in sales, the company generated slightly more sales, while profits rose surprisingly significantly. CEO Martin Daum believes the company remains on track with regard to its annual targets, but warned of difficult business conditions in Europe. The Daimler Truck share reacted to this information with turbulence and ultimately lost 3.78 percent to 40.95 euros in XETRA trading.

Experts were initially positive about Daimler Truck's strong performance in the first three months of the year. Analysts including Jefferies' Michael Aspinall and JPMorgan's Jose Asumendi praised the company's strong start to the year. RBC's Nick Housdon assessed order intake as solid and highlighted the supportive situation in North America.

However, CEO Daum painted a bleak picture of the situation in Europe, particularly at the Mercedes-Benz truck brand. The brand's sales, earnings and margin suffered losses, mainly due to the market decline in Europe. Daum emphasized the need for an upswing in the second half of the year in order to achieve the annual targets. The current months of May and June will be crucial for future development.

Despite the decline in sales, Daimler Truck reported sales of almost 13.3 billion euros in the first quarter, which was slightly higher than the previous year. Daum spoke of a “normalization” of the markets, while management confirmed the full-year forecasts. The company is struggling in the Asian market with a planned merger of the Mitsubishi Fuso and Hino businesses, while in North America it has been successful in terms of earnings, increasing its operating margin by almost a percentage point.